Mercury Music Prize 2009

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Albums? What a ridiculous concept...

(format nicked wholesale from last year's poll)

[Poll #1433368]

Comments box questions:

Do you feel compelled to check out any of the above?
Do you think this is a fair representation of British Music in 2009?
How do this lot shape up against last year's nominees?

(Stay tuned for news of this year's Lex 20p Indie prize!)

Comments

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Kasabian - I don't think I have ever knowingly heard a Kasabian record and yet I know exactly what they sound like.

Florence & The Machine - this is better than I expected, the big euphoric build ones anyway. Still can't quite get with her baying voice in full on belter mode though.

Bat For Lashes - reposted from ILM: "I really don't like this - her aesthetic is terrible and the production is so shiny and polished it kind of kills any feeling of intimacy. I want records like this to be creaky and dusty with the sound of instruments creaking in the background, like White Chalk or that Grouper album from last year. This just sounds a bit hollow and empty."

Glasvegas - I keep forgetting they exist. God no.

La Roux - I'm actively avoiding listening to this.

Lisa Hannigan - absolutely no idea. I suspect this is quite pleasant in an inoffensive and folky way, right?

Speech Debelle - enough people I trust about things like this have said she is a bit meh, so no real interest.

The Horrors - not terrible and certainly a pleasant surprise, but the aesthetic is kind of played out and the vocals are just flat-out goth. Best bits are the parts that Geoff Barrow has lifted wholesale from the last Portishead album. Still, I kind of want to give it another chance, which puts it ahead of most of the list.

Friendly Fires - terrific. Stevem described them as what Jacques Lu Cont producing the Killers should have sounded like and I'd agree with that. Sounds is huge and they actually know what to do with a rhythm section, and their dance influences are more than just window dressing.

The Invisible - liked the idea of it, the reality is very Observer Arts Supplement and zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Sweet Billy Pilgrim - actually intrigued by this

Led Bib - I don't even know what this is

[ms-bracken.livejournal.com]

I don't think I have ever knowingly heard a Kasabian record and yet I know exactly what they sound like.

Assuming the thing you think they sound like is the shrieking and braying of barnyard animals, you pretty much have their number.